Beautiful Side of Hectic: Canadian Style!

Recently, I’ve joined a pretty awesome (and busy!) group on Facebook for Canadian Bloggers. Since I’m still trying to find new friends around the interwebs, I thought a blog hop might work! (I do love all my current interweb friends too!) The idea here is to tell all you wonderful people on how great living in Canada really is. I might be partially biased however!

A few random tid-bits pertaining to my life in Canada?

I was apparently conceived in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (ick. No child should have to hear that when they’re 12!)

My dad was in the military and when my mom was 8 months pregnant, they moved to Victoria, British Columbia.

I was born in Victoria and stayed there for 6 years.

After Victoria, we had a posting message to Argentia, Newfoundland. My parents (obviously lost their marbles) decided to drive across the country. Thankfully we took our time and I was apparently a model passenger.

This cross country trek allowed me to see 9 of our 10 provinces here.

Argentia, Newfoundland was the last part of Canada to join confederation in 1994. (True story. It is a pretty small american naval base that was built during WWII. It was technically american soil- we had american money and various products and brands found in the US. It is now a Trivial Pursuit question. You’re welcome.

(Most popular sight in Newfoundland? A moose. The big building in the back was the tallest in Newfoundland until the parliament building put a teeeeeny tiny light on the top. 10 stories)

I couldn’t attend school on base with the Americans (I suppose I could have, but they would have charged tuition)

We moved to Nova Scotia when I was 13.

I finally made it to PEI, the one province we didn’t hit while travelling across the country. I went there for a conductors symposium in 2002, maybe? I’ve also since decided I need to hit the territories (we now have 3) before they make anymore!

After getting married, we moved to New Brunswick. Adam traveled for work and I wanted to substitute teach, but the sub list was 800 people long.

In 2006, we moved back to Nova Scotia. And shortly after our eldest daughter’s birth, we moved to Toronto, Ontario.

I still feel like I’m playing tourist sometimes. There is so much to do and see here. I’m sure I look lame taking a bunch of iPhone pictures!

If you are familiar with Canadians, you’ll find that we like to add the letter” u” into words. Example: colour, neighbour, etc. We also are super polite (for the most part) If we had anything like Black Friday here, we would probably say “excuse me” and definitely wouldn’t stampede into a store just for a bargain.

We also like it when we have to explain what a tuque or poutine is.

Finally, the longest street in the world is in Toronto. Yonge Street is 1,896 kilometres (or 1,178 miles) long. I actually found this bit of information on a t-shirt in a tourist shop.

I’m just full of random information. People often ask me if I remember the cross country trek. And yes. I do. I knew the prairies were flat, but not as flat as I saw! To wrap this all up, this is one of my favourite conversations I had while calling perspective students asking if they were interested in our University (after seeing them at one of our major recruiting events). I loved manning those phones, they were always a blast to explain what I loved about my university.

Gratuitous wedding picture. Nah. We just got married at the university we met at.

Calling one perspective student, his mother answers the phone. I explain who I was and why I was calling. I asked to speak to her son. She didn’t think that was a good idea. Obviously, taken aback, I inquired if she had any questions about our school. She decided to reply with something like this:

“Oh, my son won’t be going to your school” Me: Why not? Parent: “Well, it sounds great but my son doesn’t speak Canadian. Me: (wow. I’m even MORE confused) I answered “Ma’am? What language am I speaking to you with? Her: “American! And you really can’t tell since you don’t have an accent” Pretty sure my jaw was on the floor for the rest of my shift. I think that deserves a big face palm move!

I love your post Cheryl!! You don’t have an accent! Ha! And you are so right Black Friday would be so polite here. For most of it anyways. Love your wedding picture too. So great to have you on with us this year! Positively Pamperd Patty recently posted..Check out our prizes & Sponsors!! #TGCBB

What an amazing experience to have gone from coast to coast. I hope to travel across Canada someday with my kids. Lovely to get to know you better Cheryl!Brandy @insanemamacita recently posted..The Great Canadian Blog Bash Giveaway Linky

Your article is very informative and interesting for outsiders of Canada. I am an outsider of Canada, So, i have knew many interesting information’s about Canada from your article. Thanks for this awesome post.Nigel Darius recently posted..Corny Pick Up Lines For Girls

oh lordy, I am speachless over the speaking American comment. like there is just no words. I can’t believe her offspring had grades good enough for University lol thanks for taking part in TGCBB! I had no idea that Yonge st was the longest street in the world! lolJennifer recently posted..Virtual Play Date ~ June